Yes, the fires here are catastrophic, and I thank Bertha for her concern. I see on the news this morning that even new Zealand is suffering from the effects of our smoke.
Here in far North Queensland, we are spared the ferocity of the southern fires which are more like fire tornadoes as they sweep across the crowns of the trees. The eucalypt oils are so volatile that the trees literally explode, and fires like that consume everything in their path. High winds and 40+ temperatures add to the unpredictability of the fires and the ember attacks which cause so much loss of property.
We do have bushfires up here of course, and properties have been lost, but not on the same scale as our people in NSW, Victoria and SA. Even Kangaroo Island off the SA coast is burning. We normally only make the news up here for cyclonic conditions.
The military forces have now been deployed to help with evacuations and the navy are using ships to rescue people who are stranded on beaches in southern NSW. One paper headlined it as Dunkirk Down Under, in typical journalistic enthusiasm. I imagine the newspapers all over the world are reporting on this. Not doing much for our tourism industry!
But it will end. The rain will come eventually. Thank you for thinking of us.
http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/australian-smoke-turns-nz-sky-orange/ar-BBYCHwO?li=AAgfYrC&ocid=UE03DHP
